It’s been 224 days since Jay Collins resigned to become Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Lieutenant Governor. Tonight, voters in Florida’s Senate District 14 finally have a new state senator.
Democrat Brian Nathan, a union leader and U.S. Navy Veteran, scratched out a victory over Republican Josie Tomkow in the special election that wrapped tonight, according to unofficial results posted by the Hillsborough Supervisor of elections.
Nathan, 45, jumped out to an early lead after polls closed Tuesday night. He had 3,069 more votes than his 35-year-old opponent after early votes and vote-by-mail ballots were reported.
He held onto the lead by the slimmest of margins, earning 40,212 total votes while Tomkow hauled in 39,804.
The 408-vote advantage gives Nathan a 0.5% margin of victory.
Florida state statute calls for a recount for a contest if the margin of victory is less than or equal to 0.5%. A rep for the Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay the state will not call for a recount until their office’s first unofficial results are reported on Friday.
“That will include any mail ballots that are cured or provisional ballots from today that are accepted,” the rep added.
Florida Politics, however, says that Tomkow conceded defeat at her watch party in Ybor City, hinting that she would be back on the ballot in November for the district’s regular election.
Nathan’s win comes despite him being outspent and outfundraised according to the News Service of Florida.
Florida Phoenix reported beyond Tomkow’s huge fundraising advantage lead over Nathan, a political action committee worth more than $3 million was also aiding her effort.
Republicans also enjoyed a voter registration advantage in the district overall, according to numbers from Feb. 23. Of the 299,317 registered voters, 116,095 were Republican, 93,403 Democrats, and 79,944 had no party affiliation.
Turnout in Florida’s SD14 special election was just under 27% .
Florida’s Senate District 14 stretches south from MacDill Air Force Base in South Tampa all the way to Odessa in the northern part of Hillsborough County. It goes as far east as New Tampa and west to Town ‘n’ Country. Carrollwood and Westchase are also in the district.
A Tampa Monitor analysis of voter turnout shows the highest concentration of voters in Odessa’s Precinct 518 where VR Systems data shows that registered Republicans outnumber Democrats 401-101 (119 NPA).
Further analysis by the coder-powered civics blog found that Nanthan enjoyed his widest margins of victory in Carver City-Lincoln Gardens Precinct 204 (83.43% of the vote) and New Tampa Precinct 355 (80.28%).
Tomkow mostly dominated in the outer reaches of the county in neighborhoods like Town ‘n’ Country Precinct 404 (72.22%) and the aforementioned Precinct 518 in Odessa (71.65%).